Canada’s Odyssey: A Country Based on Incomplete Conquests

Russell, a University of Toronto political science professor emeritus who has written extensively on Canada and its democracy, constitution, and demography (Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis), gives readers his insightful take on the way the country has been shaped by what he terms its “three founding pillars”: English Canada, French Canada, and Aboriginal Canada. Russell puts forth that Aboriginal Canada and French Canada were never completely conquered by the British colonizers and remain true to their own historic lifelines and allegiances. The book examines all three pillars from the mid-18th century to the present, considering the ways in which each was affected by major events in Canadian history, such as confederation in 1867. It discusses the subsequent evolution of the pillars into their contemporary identities, and the search for constitutional consensus among the three. Russell persuasively argues that Canada has become a nation made up of nations that bases itself, in part, on the notion that Canada can be home to all three cultures as well as newer immigrant cultures. Canada, he writes, is a work in progress but can still be seen as an international model for successful alliances. The book is well-researched and offers readers an informed analysis of Canadian history and politics. (June)